The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s 55th Annual Nebula conference (May 29-31) will be held online this year and the 2019 Nebula Awards will be announced on Saturday, May 30, 2019.
A few weeks ago we discussed the finalists for Best Short Story and Best Novelette. Today we’ll talk about the novels and novellas, including the Middle Grade and Young Adult novels nominated for the Andre Norton Award.
Here are the finalists in these categories. Click the links to read our reviews and get the links to the stories.
BEST NOVEL:
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, Redhook; Orbit UK
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, Tor
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey; Jo Fletcher
- A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker, Berkley
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Tor.com
- Marque of Caine by Charles E. Gannon, Baen
BEST NOVELLA:
- Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang, Knopf
- The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark, Tor.com
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, Saga
- Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water by Vylar Kaftan, Tor.com
- The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Saga
- Catfish Lullaby by A.C. Wise, Broken Eye Books
ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL:
- Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee, Disney Hyperion
- Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions by Henry Lien, Holt
- Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer, Tor Teen
- Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez, Disney Hyperion
- Riverland by Fran Wilde, Amulet
- Cog by Greg van Eekhout, Harper
Here are our favorites (hover for title & author, click for our review):
Which are your favorites? Which stories have you read? Who do you predict will win?
Give us your thoughts and predictions in the comments. One random commenter with a USA mailing address will choose a book from our stacks.
Good luck to all the finalists!
I have “Gideon the Ninth”, “The Ten Thousand Doors of January”, “A Memory Called Empire” and “The Deep”, and I could see any of those winning.
I could definitely see “This Is How You Lose the Time War” being a winner!
I have no idea who is going to win for “Best Novel,” but it’s going to be close for “Best Novella.” For “Best Novel,” I’m split between “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” and “Gods of Jade and Shadow.” For “Best Novella,” I’m going with “The Deep,” which is the category I have a pick. As for “Best YA Novel,” I’ve only read “Sal and Gabi Break the Universe,” so I cannot select a choice for that category. Good luck to all the nominees!
Enter me in the contest.
“Dragon Pearl” seems like an interesting science fantasy. I like books that combine those genres.
3 overlaps with the Hugos for best novel and 3 overlaps with the Hugos for best YA novel.
I haven’t read any of the YA books. To me The Ten Thousand Doors of January seemed like a YA though, so I’m not sure how they assign the books to one list or the other. Somewhere lying around I have a list of the Seven Deadly Cliches of YA, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January had. Every. Single. One. Some in both January’s story and the embedded Ade story. So I gave up in disbelief at about the halfway point. The previous record holder was Myke Cole’s The Armored Saint, which I think only had 5 or 6 of the Seven Deadly Cliches.
I liked A Memory Called Empire. But I really, really liked Gideon the Ninth.
The only two novellas on that list that I read were The Haunting of Tram Car 015, where I just felt a bit too distanced from the detectives emotionally, and This Is How You Lose The Time War, where the frame story (outside the letters) seemed weak and the two agents rather awful people until (maybe) the end.
I’ve been wanting to take a look at “Sal and Gabi Break the Universe”.
I think the best novel is going to be The Ten Thousand Doors of January.
Not sure about the other two categories.
Keith Smith, if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks.
Please contact me (Marion) with your choice and a US address.
(Asking to be entered into the contest paid off!) Happy reading!
Why is THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY in this category? It’s not YA